Deputy PM inspects seafood catching, trading in Ha Tinh

A working delegation of the government led by Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung on May 16 visited Cam Xuyen and Ky Anh districts of the central province of Ha Tinh, which were affected by the Formosa-related marine environmental incident.

Dung inquired local residents’ difficulties after the incident during his visit to seafood trading households at Thien Cam tourist site in Cam Xuyen district. He also examined the efforts to restore production and seafood catching in Ky Khang commune of Ky Anh district, as well as the allocation of funding for local people.

The same day, the working delegation inspected the furnaces of Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation. The company has installed an environmental treatment system and automatic observation devices, which directly transmit statistics to the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Vietnam Environment Administration.

After the incident, Ha Tinh province has supported more than 60,800 affected residents, with total funding of more than 1.74 trillion VND (US$76.56 million).

About 6,240 tonnes of rice have been allocated to 19,247 households while some 23 billion VND (US$1.01 million) has been provided to 5,012 fishing boat owners.

Statistics reveal that more than 400 villages of 67 wards, communes and towns in seven districts, towns and Ha Tinh city were affected by the incident, with 6,000 fishing boats, 2,259 hectares of rivers and lakes, 31,692 cu.m of fishing cages and 127 hectares of salt fields subject to compensation.

The province has also issued policies to deal with the polluted marine environment, restore production and generate jobs.

The Formosa marine environment incident was first reported on April 6, 2016 with massive amounts of dead fish washed ashore in Ha Tinh and then in Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue.

About 70 tonnes of dead fish were found in the four provinces and Thua Thien-Hue alone reported 35 tonnes of farmed fish had died.

The pollution affected more than 260,000 people who earn their living from the sea.

In June 2016, Formosa accepted responsibility for the fish deaths and pledged to compensate US$500 million for local fishermen and help recover the polluted marine environment.